KASUNOD ng pirmahan ng Memorandum of Agreement and Partnership sa pagitan ng SMNI at Philippine Army nitong Lunes, Oktubre 24, sumalang sa isang one-on-one interview si LtGen. Romeo Brawner Jr. ang Commanding General ng Philippine Army (CGPA) kasama si Pastor Apollo C. Quiboloy.
Sa programang SMNI Exclusive, ibinahagi ni Gen. Brawner ang napakalaking ambag ng pagbuo sa National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).
“I always say this, the best thing that ever happened to our counter insurgency effort is the Executive Order 70 because this gave birth to the National Task Force to end Local Communist Armed Conflict. And with the NTF-ELCAC, we had all sectors of society coming together on a whole of nation approach in order to address this problem of insurgency,” pahayag ni Brawner.
Ani Gen. Brawner, noong wala pa ang NTF-ELCAC, dismayado ang kasundaluhan dahil anila sila lamang ang lumalaban upang matuldukan ang insurhensya sa bansa.
“Before this, we were quite a… I could say we were a bit disappointed when we were fighting wars as young lieutenants because we felt that we were the only ones addressing the problem of insurgency. In fact, whenever we went to a barangay and then we talk to the people, we ask them what do you need in the barangay. Anong kailangan po ninyo dito? And they say, kailangan namin ng tubig, we need water. So, what we did then was to contribute from our pay and allowance so that we could buy a water pump and then we would build it ourselves,” ayon kay Brawner.
Kaya naman nang pirmahan ni dating Pangulong Rodrigo Roa Duterte ang Executive Order No. 70 noong 2018, aniya natugunan ang insurhensiya sa bansa.
“But with the NTF-ELCAC now, all the agencies come together not just government agencies even non-government organizations, even our private partners, ‘yung mga private corporations come together so that we could solve the basic roots of insurgency,” ayon kay Brawner.
“Dahil dito we were able to concentrate on our real competency which is war fighting kaya nga po sunod-sunod ‘yung score ng ating Philippine Army at ng Armed Forces in general in terms of neutralizing ‘yung mga leaders ng mga New People’s Army, in terms of dismantling guerilla fronts, in terms of freeing ‘yung mga affected barangays and also in terms of a increasing the number of surrenderees. Ngayon hindi na rin sila nakakapag recruit ng new members nila as easily as they did before,” dagdag ni Brawner.
Dagdag pa ng Commanding General na dahil sa task force, mismong taumbayan na rin ang tumutulong sa gobyerno upang masugpo na ang mga komunistang terorista sa bansa.
“In fact we see the results already, we have seen the results in the neutralization of Ka Oris and so many other high value individuals even members of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPP-NPA-NDF surrendered or were captured again because of NTF-ELCAC. Now people are aware of the evils of so to speak that they are espousing and so now people tell us, give us information and this really led to the neutralization of Ka Oris,” ayon kay Brawner.
Kaya naman, hiling ni Pastor Apollo na paigtingin ang pagpapatupad ng task force.
“I hope that the government in general sees that this is the key to the ending the insurgency and I hope that they will institutionalize the budget of the NTF-ELCAC instead of just giving a lot of budget for the defense na mas malaki pa, ito na lang sana ‘yung dapat pagtuunan,” pahayag ni Pastor Apollo.
Samantala, binigyang-diin din ni Gen. Brawner ang kahalagahan ng media sa information war upang tapusin ang panlilinlang ng CPP-NPA-NDF sa taumbayan.
“Because of partners like SMNI, naipapaabot natin ‘yung tamang information sa ating mga kababayan lalong lalo na ‘yung ating mga kabataan dahil sila ‘yung nagiging biktima ng panloloko nitong New People’s Army,” ayon kay Brawner.
Tugon naman ni Pastor Apollo kaugnay rito…
“Ngayon nakikita ko na ‘nung we dedicated SMNI for nation building and in helping solve this insurgency problem how this communist onslaught is really like a flood going through our nation, and the military is like going against that current all alone, ang hirap tingnan at damdamin. Ngayong kami sumali na rito sa media itong SMNI, we saw at the first na parang ganoon nga na para kang lumalangoy against the current napakalakas ng kanilang panloloko, panlilinlang, lies and deception using media and infiltrating all sectors of society. Napakahirap ‘nung salungatin hanggang nga ngayon diba ‘yung kaso ni Dra. Lorraine Badoy na lumitaw merong mga nasa judiciary na kampi, merong mga nasa Senado, merong nasa Kongreso, merong nasa simbahan ngayon lang nagsilitawan, ‘yun nakikita na natin. So, this gives us encouragement also in swimming against this very strong current of this insurgency before we came into being as SMNI for information war. But now, more than one year after ‘yung Laban Kasama Ang Bayan, we have seen the spearheading of this information war that is going against this current na nagiging epektibo na and the people are pushing us up, nagba-back up na ‘yung tao sa atin naliliwanagan sila,” ayon pa ng butihing Pastor.
Sa huli, ibinahagi naman ni Gen. Brawner ang kanyang naramdaman sa SMNI Exclusive kasama si Pastor Apollo.
“It was very enlightening for me and it was also very encouraging because I was being interviewed by no less than the head of SMNI, si Pastor Apollo Quiboloy. Actually, matagal na kaming magkaibigan sa Davao pa. But of course, he is looked up by a lot of people and he is well-respected that is malaki rin ang aking respeto sa ating mahal na Pastor. The Philippine Army has always been very supportive of his endeavors, not only in Davao City but in the entire country,” tugon ni Brawner.
